Intel Ivy Bridge i7 3770K Retail Packaging Spotted, Has 95W TDP

In what's hopefully a sign that the release of Ivy Bridge isn't too far away, new images have surfaced of retail boxed CPU's with the i7-3770K SKU. For those unfamiliar with the presumed SKU's for IVB the 3770K should be the Quad-Core with Hyperthreading replacement for the 2700K, just as the 3570K will replace the 2500K.

The box art is pretty much the same as that of previous retail releases, but what has caught everyone's eye is the listing of a 95W TDP for the CPU, the same as that of the 2700K and 2500K Sandy Bridge parts. Most 'leaks', going back as far as Q3 last year, have indicated that the quad-core IVB CPU's would have a 77W TDP, chiefly down to the new 22nm process requiring less voltage for equivalent frequencies.

One explanation for the 95W TDP figure, floated by Nordic Hardware, was to in some way mitigate against the chances of new Z77/Z75/B75 motherboard manufacturer's building in less robust VRMs able to deal with IVB but not the more power-hungry Sandy Bridge CPU's they are also supposed to be compatible with. In many respects this seems reasonable, though you would have thought that Intel would have enough influence over AIB's to make that a non-issue.

The news has already shaken up some communities, and further scaremongering has taken place with the posting of temperature figures from non-sanctioned testing showing very high temperature figures for the 3770K, much higher than the 2700K at similar clocks. If we were to venture an opinion it would be to wait for the NDA lift date (whenever that is) and read the reviews; no doubt at that stage everything will become clear.